The Mr. And Mrs.: Oh BAY-BA BAY-BA!...7.5 lbs and 20 inches tall

In the back of my mind since the day Jared and I got married any weird/new feeling I had in my body meant it was possible for me to be pregnant. I was constantly googling every symptom I had and if it was on the list of possibly meaning I was pregnant, I would take a pregnancy test....During the relay race we participated in last June I had heart burn like I have never ever had before. Absolutley nothing was helping to get rid of the heart burn and running made it so bad that I was throwing up...of course both of those things were huge pregnancy red flags for everyone in our family that was running the race with us and it was a red flag for me except I thought there was no way it could really be the case... but a week after we got home I had to make sure so I took a pregnancy test...negative...Just what I really thought, I was not pregnant. Then a few weeks later, the week of the 4th of July 2015 I was playing in a softball game when I noticed my chest was hurting more than ever, I was feeling extremely dizy and I could not get enough water no matter how much I drank. Once again, these were signs of pregnancy...I knew my period was suppose to start any day so I hadn't exactly missed it yet but I began really feeling strong that I was pregnant. I kind of mentioned it to Jared but he shrugged it off since it was definitely not the first time I claimed this... (more like the 5th..). But this time was very different for me so I mentioned it to Alyssa at our softball game and all of a sudden I felt very protecive of my body and nervous that I was going to harm my child that may or may not be in my body at that moment by getting hit by a ball or diving to a base or for a ball...

A couple of days later we went up to North Ogden to my parents house for Cherry Days/ 4th of July festivities. This is my favorite holiday!! I was sitting around talking with my mom and I mentioned to her that I really thought there was a strong possibility that I could be pregnant...Of course she got extremely excited but also extremely supportive and asked about my symptoms. I told her and she agreed that there was a very real possibility that I was pregnant. We were very excited but still didn't know for sure. The following Friday I worked up the courage to take another pregnancy test but this time I couldn't just open it up and pee on it, I had to talk myself through the whole process and convince myself to do it..I had a feeling this time would be different from my previous expeirences.

It was positive!!!

I wanted to call Jared up at work and tell him the good news but I felt like this was news that needed to be shared in person... He had just accepted a job with the NRCS so I told him I was going to make him a special dinner that night and that I had a surprise for him. I went out and bought a card that said "Congratulations" which had two meanings: congratulations for the job and congratulations you are going to be a dad. I got a call from my mom that afternoon and she made me spill the beans that the test was positive. So she technically found out before Jared... But I anxiously waited for Jared to get home from work. Just when I'm expecting him to be getting home he calls and says that he's going to run over to help his dad with something before he'll be home. I about died waitiing for him...haha In the card, I told him how proud of him I am and then somehow tide it in that he is going to be a dad. I videoed Jared reading the card to himself and at the end he responded, "REALLY" (all enthusiastically) and gave me a huge hug and kiss. And we immediately planned out how we were going to tell everyone else.

Since my mom already knew, we thought we should at least tell Jared's mom that night (before she left for Disneyland the next day). Then a couple of days later we had my parents and Jared's dad over for Sunday Dinner and we announced it to them. The videos really tell it the best but I need to figure out how to get those things working on here...Then on Monday we went and took pictures for our grand reveal to family and friends.

This is the fortune Jared got the night before I took the pregnancy test...

I thought it was very fitting. ha ha

Look how cute (**SPOILER ALERT) he is here at our first doctors appointment at 11 weeks! We fell in love the second we got to see this little man and hear his healthy heart beating.

Here I am a whole 13 weeks pregnant and proud of my bump^^

15 weeks^^

20 weeks! Half way there!^^

We went to our 20 week ultra sound appointment on October 23rd and we found out we were having a baby boy. He looked healthy and strong. We got more ultrasound pictures that I'm going to add later. We had a big gender reveal party with most of our family and a few friends and being the jokesters that both Jared and I are we first told them we were revealing with silly string so we had them all gather around and Jared and I squirted the silly string at each other which sprayed out both pink and blue....then the real reveal came where we set up a piñata that was filled with blue papers and candy. We let our nieces and nephew take a whack at it until it revealed what was inside. It's a BOY!!! First grandson on the Lewis side and 2nd grandson on the Elliott side.

<--22 Weeks and
feeling great!-->

28 Weeks (we were packing up all of our stuff this day getting ready to move into

Jared's parent's house until our rental was available for us to move into.

Comparing bellies...I'm 29 weeks with our little boy and Graycee is 24

weeks with their baby girl and baby boy :)

Look at us prego ladies due in the next 8-18 weeks. Far left is Jenny due March 16th (they're not sure what they are having...at this point they think they are having a boy, Me due March 11th with a boy, Ashlee due in the middle of May with a boy, and Lisette due in the middle of April with a boy.

32 weeks...

I'm 37 weeks along and Graycee is 32 weeks along with the twins

Jared's sister and her husband were super sweet and offered to take a few maternity pictures for me when they were taking their sons baptism pictures. Now I will always have these pictures to cherish and remember the first time I was pregnant.

I'm 39 weeks and 2 days along and Jenny is 38 weeks and 4 days along.

Also, to help me remember this pregnancy I am going to summarize how I felt through the whole experience... at the beginning I would get extremely tired and nauseous for the silliest little things so I had to keep food and water in my stomach at all times or I would feel sick. But the hard part about that was I had extreme food aversions....I am not a picky eater but in this first trimester I became extremely picky. Even my most favorite things sounded disgusting to me... I would crave something one day...have it one time then absolutely hate it the next day like taquitos, breakfast burritos, certain salads, and pretty much every single vegetable...I ate gold fish crackers and granola bars a lot...and soon realized toaster strudels both tasted and sounded good so I ate a ton of those....Throughout the pregnancy I seemed to crave chicken nuggets (for awhile it was specifically McDonald's chicken nuggets) and root beer (I usually don't even like soda...) Something else I noticed from the beginning was my heightened sense of smell.. I absolutely hated going in most grocery stores.. especially Walmart. I think the different smells were just too overwhelming. I also particularly hated the smell of deep dish pizza from Little Caesars and I banned Jared from ever getting it while I was around (so any time either of us were away from each other for dinner, Jared would make sure to get his deep dish fix in). There were several other smells I didn't like but grocery stores and deep dish pizzas seemed to top the list. I also noticed the thought of some foods seemed to cause me heart burn so when it came time for dinner I couldn't think about where we were going to eat or what we were going to eat before we actually got it...

As I moved into the second trimester I started feeling a lot better and I began to have a lot more energy. Week 14 I felt him kicking around for the first time, I was shocked that I could feel him so well so early on. Week 18 Jared felt him kick for the first time. He was definitely a mover. I continued with heart burn and started developing a ton of leg cramps...It was no fun...They would cause me to shoot out of bed most nights. I also began experiencing sciatic pain and never felt like I could stop the aches.

Then came the third trimester...I started getting really anxious and excited. I would get charley horses in my feet, hips, calves, hands....just pretty much everywhere...some days I felt like I could eat so much and some days I felt like I couldn't eat anything. The little guy began getting hiccups at least twice a day it seemed like and he never stopped moving. I also began feeling shooting pains in my lower stomach and tightening contraction-type feelings. I was still working and everything was going well up until my last couple of weeks. I began to feel really exhausted and just ready as ever to meet our little boy.

As soon as we found out he was a boy we started talking about boy names we liked and pretty quickly we settled on either Logan (really quick back story to this name...while Jared and I were dating and living in Logan, Utah we were at Wolverine an X-Men movie and a thought popped into my head..."If Jared and I got married, we should name our son Logan because Wolverine's name is Logan and we met in Logan) or Lincoln (back story on this name...Jared and I watched prison break together last year and a few episodes into it I told Jared I really liked the name Lincoln for a boy and he agreed). Although we did have a few others join our list here or there like Gabriel, Lucas, and Rockwell we always seemed to cancel them out and were left with Lincoln or Logan. I was pretty set on Lincoln for the first few months while I think Jared was leaning more towards Logan then around week 30ish we both started leaning really heavily towards Logan. Then about 2 weeks before he was born I started leaning towards Lincoln again and Jared said, "I think we should name him Lincoln" and he started telling everyone we were going with Lincoln. When we got to the hospital the first time...the nurse asked us what we were planning on naming him so we told her we were thinking about Lincoln but we might go with Logan, we hadn't quite decided yet. So she wrote them both up on the white board and just seconds after she did, Jared turned to me and said, "I think I want Logan..." I was like, "WHAT??? I thought we were pretty set on Lincoln, I want Lincoln..." So still no for sure decision was made going into labor and after I delivered him the nurse asked..."so what is his name?" Jared and I looked at each other and he told me that I could decide. So with the baby in my arms I looked down at him trying to name him Lincoln and it just wasn't fitting...So I turned and looked at Jared and said..."He's definitely Logan".

OK, so now here is the really fun story... LABOR DAY (not the holiday). It all began on March 6th @ 3:00 in the morning...I woke up with contractions and I started timing them...they were extremely consistent; less than 5 minutes apart but they were only like 30 seconds long...at like 5:00 am I woke Jared up and we sat around not sure what to do so finally at like 6:00 am we went to the hospital to get checked out. On February 25th I had gone to the doctor and I was dilated to a 1.5 cm and 80% effaced so when we got to the hospital they measured me to see if I've dilated anymore since then...nope...maybe if anything I was 85% effaced at this point. One of the nurses said, "I know this is your first pregnancy but trust me, you will know when you're in labor...Don't come back until you can't talk through your contractions..." OK fine. So Jared and I did the walk of shame out of the hospital that morning and I decided I wouldn't be back until I knew for sure that it was labor. We went on with our day attending a baby blessing for one of our friend's babies then we headed up to Magna to my brother's new house for a family dinner. Jared was a little tentative about us driving that far when I have had contractions all day but at this point they had slowed way down and I told him I didn't want to just sit around and wait all day for this baby that probably won't even be coming today. He was in concurrence. Before we left my Mother-in-Law fixed me up a plate of spicy buffalo wings to help this baby move along. They were delicious. We got up there ate a delicious dinner, had a fabulous dessert, engaged in wonderful conversations (mostly about the babies- remember my sister-in-law is due 5 days after me), and just before we left we took a final pregnancy picture together then I jumped on my nieces trampoline for a good 5-10 minutes....Then we drove home and went to bed.

At 1:00 am I shot out of bed with this extreme stomach pain and landed on my knees...holy contraction!!! It lasted like 45 seconds long then I got back in bed. About 15 minutes later I shot out again with the same pain for the same amount of time. I definitely couldn't talk through these pains...But they were only 45 seconds long and 15 whole minutes apart. So I laid in bed/crawled around on the floor timing them. Jared woke up around 3:00 am asking what he can do...I had no idea...at this point they were closer to 1 minute long and down to 10 minutes apart...I was definitely progressing with these contractions and I still definitely couldn't talk through them. Jared was in and out of sleep until about 5:00 am when I got down to 8 minutes between contractions lasting over a minute long. Jared got in the shower and I made him help me clean our room.... Then we decided to call the doctor to see if we should come in yet and they said to wait until they were 3 to 5 minutes apart before coming in. I was a little irritated and decided that I was going to help things along...so I looked up how to progress contractions and it suggested walking around, jumping jacks, stairs...everything but sitting. So I began doing all of these...I ended up basically building me an obstacle course throughout the house. I would jog down the stairs, walk through the living room, walk to the kitchen, stop and do 5-10 jumping jacks, walk through the family room, hop over a pillow, and jog back upstairs. I must've done this 100 times in a row only breaking for contractions. In between each contraction I would stop and get a drink and try to eat a cracker or two because I knew once I did go to the hospital they weren't going to let me eat or drink. But food sounded absolutely disgusting and I got heart burn just thinking about it. Finally close to 7:30 am my mother-in-law told us that we needed to go in because my contractions were happening between 4-6 minutes apart and were at least 1 minute and 30 seconds long. So we drove the 20 minutes to the hospital (contractions and cars do not go well together..)

When we got there Jared and I were extremely excited. This had to be it. Our baby boy would be joining us soon!!! The nurse showed us to our room, asked me to change into the gown and told us she would be back shortly to measure me. Jared asked me if I was going to get an epidural, my response was, "it depends on how dilated I am. If I'm only at a 4 I can wait it out a little longer before I decide if I need one but if I'm at like a 6 or a 7 I'm definitely not getting one because I'm so close." Jared agreed. We were both thinking I had to be at like a 4 or 5 by now since I labored so long at home...The pain had started nearly 7 hours ago.

So they came and checked me out... 1.5 cm...possibly 1.75 cm at most...WHAT??? That's what I've been at for the last two weeks. I promise I'm not just being a wimp, I have had hard contractions that I couldn't talk through for the past 7 hours. They had us stay there to see if I would continue to progress in the next hour and if I didn't, then I would be sent home. An hour went by and I was now 95% effaced but not dilated any more...so upsetting! The nurse was just about as surprised as we were. She went and talked to the doctor and he decided to keep us there for one more hour since we had a 20 minute drive home-- I was relieved, surely I would progress in this next hour. They let me get up and walk around the hospital in hopes of helping with the progression. Right before the hour was up I had a few very intense contractions that put me on the edge of tears. The nurse checked me one last time and she said she would consider me 100% effaced and maybe 2 cm. Small progression!!! But it just wasn't enough for them to keep me there any longer. So they gave me some pain medicine, told me to go get food and water, and also suggested that I get in a warm tub to help me relax. The nurse asked me if I had any questions...."um yeah....how will I know when to come back?" I asked. She replied, "just when they get even more intense and closer together... Sorry, that's not what you wanted to hear but I will say I would guess that you will be back later tonight." "OK cool" I responded. (very heavy sarcasm.) So out we went on the next walk of shame....
Jared then drove me home. On the way home I got a call from the hospital asking me about my experience at the hospital the day before (Sunday, March 6th). During the call I had a contraction and I was in so much pain that I had to tell the lady to hold on and I squealed and clenched my fists in pain while I heard the lady on the phone say, " you're OK, just breath...in and out...in and out" after it was over she said, "oh honey, I think you need to get back to the hospital" and as nicely as I could I said, "I was just at the hospital 5 minutes ago and they sent me home." "Well I'm sure you will be back soon..." she stated. OK cool.
When we got home I was starving so Jared helped fix me a bowl of soup and started a bath for me. I got in the tub with my bowl of soup, took one bite, laid my head back to relax, and BAM contraction...then BAM another contraction...They just started coming one after the other with the most intense pain I had ever felt. About 15 to 20 minutes into my bath Jared came in to check on me and I was a mess. I was bawling and hunched over in the tub trying to find any relief I could. Jared helped me out of the water and said, "we need to get you back to the hospital right now!" I was pretty reluctant because I had just gotten sent home. I decided I would go get dressed and see how I felt. I started walking up the stairs and BAM contraction. At this point they were happening pretty much every 30 seconds so before I could make it up the stairs I had 3 contractions that each put me on all fours in the stairway. When I made it into our room, Jared had to help me get my clothes on and during this he decided to call the hospital and they told him to get me there right away!!!
Jared was running around trying to help me out and trying to get me to the hospital. But I really didn't want to get back into the car and I really didn't want to get turned away again. But Jared kept saying, "I will not let them turn you away again, I am going to demand that you stay no matter what they say." Jared seemed abnormally quiet and kept to himself for most of the drive except for when he would ask questions to check on me. (Later I found out that he was extremely scared and thought that everything was going wrong and actually slightly feared for mine and the baby's lives.) Once we got to the hospital, it was about 1:00 pm, Jared jumped out and grabbed me a wheel chair and rushed me into the hospital as I was yelling with each contraction and bawling my eyes out. As he pushed me through the front lobby, we received the strangest looks and stares but there was no way I could hold these sounds in. Once we got upstairs, the lady at the front desk was in the middle of helping someone else out (that didn't seem to be in much pain) and as soon as she saw us she frantically began helping us and got us to our room right away. When we got in there I was suppose to take off my clothes and get in the hospital gown but I was in so much pain that I just laid on the hospital bed until Jared convinced me I had to change.
The nurse checked me...3 cm...I had progressed...not much..but it was progression! They said I would be staying and asked if I wanted an epidural and I shouted, "YES". Jared later told me there was no way he was going to let me tell them no at this point, he needed my pain to stop. The nurse went to go and get the anesthesiologist but came back like 10 minutes later with bad news..."he is in the middle of a C-section and won't be able to give you an epidural for at least an hour." That was terrible news but she offered another pain killer to help suppress the pain of the contractions while we waited. That pain killer seemed to do absolutely nothing so she also began suggesting other natural things to help with the pain. One of the best things she taught us was counter pressure. I sat up in the bed with my knees dangling over the edge and just as I was going through a contraction, Jared would push literally as hard as he could against my knees. I don't know how that worked but it did and I loved it! Finally around 3:00 pm they checked me again- I had progressed to 5 cm and right then the anesthesiologist came in to give me my epidural (HALLELUJAH).
Immediately my lower body began feeling numb and the contractions seemed to get less and less painful until I felt no pain at all. Shortly after I received my epidural, my mom made it to the hospital driving down from North Ogden and my mother-in-law came over from Spanish Fork. I was checked again at 4:00 and was already dilated to an 8 and they began making plans to get the doctor and break my water. At 5:00 the doctor checked me, I was at a 10 and ready to go so he broke my water and had the nurses begin helping me learn how to push. They would have me push 3 times and on the last time I would have to hold the push for 10 seconds. Everything was going well and after just a few pushes we were able to start seeing some dark hair. The doctor came back in at 5:20 and I thought this was when the real pushing would begin and assumed it would take another hour...nope...I was wrong. The doctor came in, had me do a few really small pushes and our baby was out at 5:27 pm. That part seemed so easy, I couldn't believe it!
Our baby boy was here, safe and sound. They took him over to weigh, measure, and clean him up. I exploded with overwhelming emotions...our little boy is safe and sound. I have a son. I am a Mother. Soon after they cleaned him up they placed him on my chest. He began lifting his head right away and just seemed so strong. The nurses asked what his name was and Jared and I looked at each other and Jared just said, "you decide". So I began thinking...Lincoln or Logan? I wanted so bad to name him Lincoln...I just thought I liked that name better but all of a sudden I turned to Jared and responded..."He's Logan". Logan Scott Elliott (born on Grandpa Scott's birthday), 7 lbs
6 oz, and 20 inches long. Absolutely perfect!